1. Technical Field
The present application relates generally to an improved data processing system and method. More specifically, the present application is directed to a system and method for evaluating software sustainability.
2. Description of Related Art
In today's world where computers are integrated into every facet of business and individual lives, software and its development becomes increasingly important. While it takes a great deal of time and effort to develop software products, often involving many different individuals working on various parts of the software product, it also takes a great deal to time, effort, and knowhow to maintain software products and improve upon them with new innovations. However, the nature of the software industry is that individuals often move from one company to another taking their knowhow and expertise with them when the move to their new positions with new employers.
Often business and individuals are interested in acquiring ownership of companies whose main product is software. As part of the process for evaluating a software based organization for an acquisition, there is a need to evaluate how much of a given software product's “core developers” and “core innovators” are still involved with the product and how people have grown/contributed to the software product over time. This will allow the evaluators to determine if a product still has the key resources necessary to drive innovation, development, and continued software maturity. In many cases, much of the core software asset has been contributed by people who have left the organization. Thus, even though the organization has functioning software, the ability to sustain, service, and grow the software asset is lacking.
Current approaches to evaluating sustainability and capacity for innovation are ad hoc and are primarily based on human review of the code and its associated documentation. Sometimes, the potential acquirer of the software organization must interview the developers and architects of the software product to obtain needed information for determining the software product's sustainability. However, such interviews are often limited in scope due to the need to maintain secrecy around a potential acquisition.